Ignorance is Bliss
by Inspiration-Without-Motivation
Summary: When Tim is almost killed by a mystery assassin, Batman interferes and solves the problem. 5 years later that same assassin joins the team but with a whole new life. Summary is bad but story is better. Set 2 years after 'Endgame'. Features all members of the team with a select focus on a few. Rated T for now but may change to M later on.


Barbra Gordon stepped out of the Gotham zeta tube just as the Batmobile came screeching to a stop. She quickly jumped in beside Bruce and he sped off to their destination.

"Bruce what happened? You said it was urgent but- Alfred? What are you doing here?" The butler was sitting in the back with a worried expression on his face which softened at seeing Barbra.

"A pleasure to see you too Miss Gordon" came the reply and Barbra smiled inwardly. "Sorry Alfred an it's nice to see you too. Bur seriously what are-"

"I asked him to come. Nightwing radioed the Batcave saying that he needed serious help. Tim's been badly wounded and Nightwing is too busy fighting to tend to him.

"Okay but that still doesn't explain why you needed to call me and have Alfred tag along." Continuing to focus on the road he responded.

"As I was suiting up, Nightwing contacted the Batcave and established a visual call. He looked beaten up and Tim was unconscious. His exact words were 'Batman I need help. I can't beat this guy alone. Bring all the help you can.' There was an explosion and the video feed cut out."

This time he looked at his sidekick and he couldn't blame her for the look of fear that crossed her features.

"When we get there which should be in two minutes, you're going to locate Tim, possibly Nightwing if he needs it and bring them back here.

Bring them back to the Batcave. Alfred, you know what to do. Try and treat the wound as best you can but no risky stuff in here." Alfred of course needed no briefing but just listened silently. He knew it made Bruce feel better about the situation if he could have a plan.

"We're here."

Here was an abandoned high school. Batman and Batgirl jumped from the car while Alfred got out and began his preparations. "Any idea where they are?" Batman said nothing but moved off over to the side of the building where they found a football field. They could see smoke rising from a blown off part of the bleachers. "Must have been where the video feed cut out" muttered Barbra quietly. She was about to speak again when Batman held up his hand, telling her to be quiet. After a few seconds he sprang off towards a door near the end of the school.

"This way. I can hear them fighting." Barbra immediately took off after her mentor, reaching the door just a couple of seconds after. The first thing she noticed was Batman running past the two figures that were squaring off in the middle. Her focus shifted to them and she could see why Dick requested backup. He was breathing heavily, much heavier than his opponent who looked in much better condition. Where Dick's suit was torn in multiple places revealing many cuts and bruises, the mystery figure's was scratched in places and looked to have taken some damage but not much where he would have need to worry.

A closer look showed that where Dick's suit was mostly just a fabric with little protection, his opponent's seemed to be all protection. It didn't cling tight to his body but instead seemed to form around it like a barrier. Barbra prayed that was why Dick seemed to be having such a difficult time.

"Barbra!" Without a second thought, she ran over to where Batman was holding Robin in his arms. The Boy Wonder's limbs were limp indicating he lost conscious, probably from the loss of blood out of multiple cuts and slashes on his body. The biggest seemed to be across his chest and a stab wound in his shoulder. Batman shifted the boy into the girl's arms before grabbing her shoulders. Once he had her complete attention, he gave her his instructions.

"Whoever this guy is, he means business. Nightwing won't last a minute more at this rate," Barbra could hear the sounds of fighting behind her and turned to look over shoulder. They seemed to be evenly matched at the moment but having much experience with combat herself, she knew that could change in a heartbeat. "so I need you to take Tim and Dick back to Alfred and get to the Batcave as fast as possible. Do you understand?"

"But what about you? I don't want to leave you here with someone who seems this good and _don't _say you'll be fine because I can tell you're worried." While she had complete faith in her mentor's abilities, it was a combination of the fact that he was nervous and the results of how capable this adversary was that caused her to worry.

"Right now Tim and Richard need your complete attention so go see to them. I promise I'll be fine. Now go!" She nodded once and stepped out of his still cradling Tim in her arms. She watched intently as Batman flew in to block a sword cut that would have probably would have killed her best friend. He finished the move by disarming and kicking the threat to a safe distance. He threw the sword into the wooden stage on his left side before addressing a very disoriented Dick.

"Get out of here. Batgirl's behind you and has Tim." Nightwing cast a look back to see for himself before answering. "No way. I can still fight and I have a score to settle with this ass." He moved to step in beside Bruce but was shoved back. "You're injured Dick now go!" He saw the look in Dick's face and knew he wasn't going to listen to regular orders. "Please? You need to be safe and I have a score o settle with this guy myself... he hurt my son."

Dick wasn't sure if it was the rare display of emotion or the never before used word of please but something shifted in him and he found himself obeying. "You better not die or else I'll kill you." he called after his mentor. "Hey BG, what took you so long?" Batgirl only scoffed at her teammate before leading him out of harm's way and back to the waiting Alfred. They both cast one last look as their mentor stood facing his opponent. Anyone who appreciates martial arts would have killed to see, Dick and Barbra included, but they both realized they couldn't stay, not with Tim's life on the line. Not even two minutes later, Barbra was once again hopping into the Batmobile while Alfred had strapped Tim to a stretcher with Dick sitting opposite from him.

"I'm worried." Nightwing was currently lying down with his wrapped up ankle and knee while Barbra was stitching up his body. His fight with the still unknown man had left him with a sprained knee, ankle, wrist and shoulder, multiple bruises and cuts resulting in at least thirty different stitches all over his body. Compared to Tim he got off lightly. Alfred had immediately started to clean the slash and stab wounds before doing his best to stop the flow of blood. A little colour had come back to the teen's face showing he was on his way to recovering. Multiple slashes and cuts were also all over his body due to the finely placed slashes and strokes of his opponent's sword.

"Yes Master Dick we all are but you heard his instructions. You are most definitely not leaving this cave for the next forty eight hours at least. Your injuries are serious and need time to heal." Alfred had finished up with Tim and was busy cleaning up his medical supplies. "I know Alfred but what if something happens to him? It's been almost half an hour and we haven't heard anything from him."

Alfred decided to avoid the conversation by adjusting his suit. Sighing rather audibly, Dick decided to try to appeal to Batgirl. "Babs we can't just sit or lay here and do nothing. I mean Alfred is cleaning his jacket for crying out loud while Bruce is going head to head with an experienced killer!" Barbra cast her gaze over to the figure lying a few feet away from her before directing it over to Alfred then back again.

"I'll go back and check on him. Alfred I'll stay in contact and call if you need anything. She moved to gather her cowl and gloves again when Dick suddenly sprang into a sitting position. "What no way! You going there is not what I meant!" Barbra cast him a hard look but said nothing. "Alfred tell her it's crazy. She can't go!" Nightwing continued to stare at Barbra with pleading eyes but turned when Alfred had remained silent.

"I'm sorry but I think Miss Gordon is right. She is the only one capable of going and we certainly aren't doing ourselves any favours by worrying."

"Thank you Alfred. And Dick," she moved forward to place a hand on his uninjured shoulder "I'll be fine." The pair watched as the Batmobile drove off and Alfred smiled to himself as he heard Dick mutter "you better be" to himself quietly before rolling over and lying down once again.

Barbra wasted no time and was in the gymnasium within seconds of exiting the Batmobile. She stopped in the doorway and scanned the room for the pair she sought but could see neither of them. She exited the gym and found herself in a hallway. The walls were lined with lockers and it was there she found her way of tracking the pair. The fight must have moved locations to the hallway at some point where the opponents seemed to have slam each other into the lockers. Many of them were dented or ripped off entirely. She frowned as she noticed blood on one of them and continued on at a more urgent pace. The trail of damage ended up leading her through a classroom, down another hallway.

After minutes of walking, she stopped. She thought she heard the sound of a door slamming and waited quietly for any other sounds. Looking at her surroundings, she found herself at a three way intersection with 3 hallways to choose from on her sides and in front. Behind her was a staircase leading up to the second floor which could be seen above her through a window on her left. It was there she saw two figures suddenly move into view. She smiled to herself when she noticed that the fight seemed to be heavily in Batman's favour. Batman was stalking slowly towards his opponent who seemed to look for an escape route. He turned and was about to jump through the glass to the lower level when he caught sight of a very ready Barbra. He turned just in time to block a punch sent to his temple and another aimed to his stomach. He missed the third one that connected squarely with his jaw.

His legs buckled and he tired in vain to throw a punch at Batman who easily avoided the blow and stepped around the man. The fight had gone on for far too long in Batman's mind and he wanted it over now. Bunching the shirt (the armour had been removed at one stage during the fight) around the back of the man's collar and on his stomach, Batman pivoted and threw the man through the glass face first to land on the floor at Barbara's feet. She quickly cuffed the now unconscious man hands and feet to each other before propping him up against a wall. She moved to support the injured Batman who had dropped down to join her.

"Easy now. It's over." Batman sighed before shaking his head. "Not yet it isn't."

"We're going to what now?" It was the day after Batman had beaten and captured the unknown enemy. Alfred had made sure that they all got a suitable amount of rest and had eaten properly, much to Batman's annoyance, before any other action was to be taken. Barbra had gone home to her father so he wouldn't get suspicious but came back at Batman's request. She was now sitting between Dick and Tim's beds waiting for Batman to explain his plan on what to do with their new guest. The first line had prompted Dick's outburst.

"You heard me. We're going to let him escape so tha-" "But that's crazy." Batman turned a cold glare on his first apprentice which shut him up completely. He saw Barbra smirk out of the corner of his eye while Tim was trying to stifle his laughter. "So that we can follow where he goes. This isn't a common criminal. Too skilled and too prepared. His armour and weapons were top quality and he came looking for a fight. I believe he was an assassin."

He waited patiently for the three teenagers to digest the information. Tim looked a little scared considering that he was the one targeted. His patrol was rather quiet that night so he decided to wait until a call came in. It was then that the man attacked him unexpectedly. Bruce had listened to his story patiently and offered his comfort, assuring Tim that he had done nothing wrong and that he wasn't to blame. "Who sent him do you think?" His gaze turned to Barbra before answering. "I know who didn't send him. None of our common criminals here in Gotham.

They all prefer to do the act of killing themselves and would of made sure we knew it was them."

"So is it an enemy of the League then?" Dick asked. "Unlikely. They know not to touch our sidekicks or else they unleash the whole League on them, even our temporary members. It also isn't the League of Assassins. Ra's knows better than to confront us directly." "So you want to let him escape so we can follow him back to his employers and find out who they are." Bruce turned an approving eye on Tim and nodded. We're going to make it look like a power outage to the Batcave so his cell unlocks. Dick, you'll just be arriving on your bike and leave it on so he can use it to escape. I already have the tracker on him so me and Barbra can follow him."

This caused another outburst from Dick as Bruce predicted it would.

"No way! He has my bike and I want to follow him!" "Dick you're injured. If we are forced to fight you would just get in the way. You'll be monitoring us from here and warning us of any threats. Also contact Aqualad and ask him to be ready."

"Anything we should be worried about Nightwing?"

"Nope you're all good to proceed BG, good luck." Batgirl moved to her position on top of the building where she would drop down and assist Aqualad. Their former prisoner had led them to a private warehouse sixty miles away from Gotham. It seemed to act as a storage facility but satellite scans showed of at least three lower levels. The plan was for Aqualad and Batgirl to provide a distraction for Batman to slip down to the lower levels. The top floor wasn't heavily guarded with the first sub-level being the same. The three would then rendezvous at the second sub level where they would determine their next course of action.

Barbra heard the explosion at the front doors and knew Aqualad had busted in (with Batman's help), indicating it was her turn. She dropped through the sky roof and landed in a crouch, dropping to smoke grenades. She enabled her detective vision and noticed Aqualad was dealing with four guards and moved to assist him. She crept behind one and swept his legs out from under him before slamming his head on the ground, rendering him unconscious. Dodging another guard's blind swings, she slipped behind the man wrapped her arm around his throat. He struggled and tried to rip her arm away but she was stronger than him and her hold was firm and after a couple of more seconds, he joined his friend on the ground.

She heard a slam and could see that Aqualad had defeated one of his opponents and was having no trouble with the second one. "Hey!" Two more guards were running at her brandishing short metal rods and she smirked. They were taken off guard and stopped as she started running towards them as well, before throwing two batarangs knocking the weapons from their hands. By the time they looked back up, she was directly in front of the first one before she easily jumped over him. His eyes followed her movement before catching another one out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, he caught Aqualad's fist square in his jaw. He had no idea what happened to his comrade.

"Well done Batgirl." Barbra turned to her leader and gave a little curtsey which looked utterly ridiculous in her costume. "I try my best." A small smile formed on Khaldur's lips. "Come. We are to meet up with Batman.

The lower levels were more of an office building layout and as the pair walked through, they noticed Batman decided to take on a stealthy approach. They counted seven unconscious workers and four guards. Seeing an elevator off to the side, they moved to enter it and hit the second floor. Upon the doors opening, they were both surprised. Either Batman had gotten bored or detected while sneaking (probably the former Batigrl thought) because he was now busy fighting four guards with two already on the ground.

"Do you think we should help? Aqualad's usually neutral voice held some humour in it as he watched the fight. Barbra smirked and shook her head, the same tone evident in her voice. "No I think he's got it." They watched as two more were put down simultaneously and then the doors started to close. "Hold that!" Batman commanded without looking in their direction and Aqualad died as instructed. "Batman I don't think these doors are meant to be held." Batman didn't respond. Aqualad cast a glance at his teammate for help who could only shrug. Seconds later had one of the guards thrown into the wall by the elevator and the other joining him shortly after.

The elevator ride took longer than the last ones, indicating that the third sub level was much larger than the previous two. The elevator ride was slightly awkward as some cheesy music was playing prompting Batgirl to ask if Batman liked the song. He didn't.

When they finally stopped and the doors opened, they were met with a wall of guards. At least twenty of them had surrounded the doors in a semi-circle. "Don't move whoever you are." A quiet hush fell over all of them until one guard spoke up. "Is that Batman?" The man who spoke lowered his gun and pulled up his visor. "Damn that is Batman what the hell?" Batgirl and Aqualad looked uneasy at these unexpected events while Batman's expression remained the same. One by one the guards lowered their weapons at the realization that it was The Dark Knight standing before them.

One man stepped forward and stuck out his hand. "Jackson Atlers, head of security here." He lowered his hands after a couple of awkward seconds with Batman standing still. "What is going on here." "Uh well what do you mean... Batman? This is a safe house for our employer, he hired all of us to protect his things." Batman looked to Batgirl and Aqualad who were confused. "Something isn't right. Whoever your employer is, he's lying to you. Take me to him.

"Uh, yes right away... Batman... sir... sir Batman."

Khaldur shared an amused look with Batgirl at the obviously flustered guard.

"Where is he!?" Batman was alone with Dante Sinopilis, the owner of the warehouse. The head of security had taken Batman to him before being ordered to leave and go home. He did just that and relayed the instructions to his men. Now Batgirl and Aqualad were standing outside of Mr. Sinopilis' office listening to the interrogation. It had only just begun and they could already hear him blubbering.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about.. please?" Batman slammed his hand on the table. "The man sent to attack my partner. I tracked him to this building and he hasn't come out so I know he's here."

The man remained quiet and Batman decided he had had enough. Throwing the table out of his way, he moved forward and grabbed the man by his throat. A loud thud vibrated through the walls as Batman had lifted and slammed the man back into it.

"One last chance. Where. Is. He."

"Alright! This is a warehouse owned privately by me but I'm not in charge. A man, I don't know his name came to my home one day and told me I was going to let him use a back room in the warehouse. He came in with a bunch of professional looking military, and they took my family. He said if I didn't agree that he would kill them." Batman paused and dropped the man not gently nor aggressively on the ground. Batman was about to ask more when Aqualad stuck his head in.

"Batman. You'll probably want to come look at this." Aqualad left the door open and Batman could see a group coming their way. "Stay put.

I'll be back soon."

He closed the door behind him and stepped out to face the group who had stopped twenty meters away. Flanking him was Batgirl to his right and Aqualad to his left, both in fighting stances. A similar formation was opposite them instead with two figures at the front and ten men flanking each side of them. They were dressed in grey military gear and each had two batons in their hands as well as side arms.

The two in front were totally opposite. Each were wearing outfits that resembled the League of Assassins official uniform. One, a woman, was brandishing two swords and the other had a bo-staff.

"Batman. You are ordered to leave the grounds here at once. This is your first and final warning. If you do not comply we will use lethal force on you and your comrades. Leave now and do not come back here."

Batman loosened his muscles and turned to leave. He grabbed a very dumbfounded Aqualad and Batigirl and dragged them beside him.

"Batman," Batgirl hissed shaking free of his grip "what are we doing?" "Winning. Aqualad, up ahead is a tank full of water, I'm going to break it and you use the water to crash into them." Aqualad nodded and gripped his Water Bearers more tightly. "Alright Batman."

"Batgirl, we'll run behind the wall for protection. I'll take on the one wielding the swords and you two will take the other. Aqualad remember to keep an eye on the soldiers. Everyone got it?"

"Yes Batman" the two teens chorused. And prepared for the battle.

"That was really easy. I didn't expect them to just walk away."

"I know. Who knew the big bad bat was really just a-" the soldier was cut off from talking to his friend by the sound of an explosion. All the soldiers turned to look as they saw the brown skinned boy riding a wall of water that was headed directly towards them.

"God damn I think we jinxed it" said the first soldier who spoke. He never heard the reply as the wall of water came crashing into them, sending all twenty soldiers to the back wall. The two ninjas had easily dodged the wave and had brandished their weapons. They moved to corner Aqualad who had use his water bearers to fashion swords. The staff came at him first in three blinding strokes, switching from two high attacks to a low. Aquqalad hadn't expected the speed and was caught off guard. He held his two swords below him in a criss-cross pattern to from an x that blocked the stroke. This however left him wide open for the two sword strokes. He managed to duck one but the second jab aiming straight for his chest would have for sure been fatal.

It never came however as two mini explosions hit the pair of ninjas, allowing Aqualad to jump over both of them. He saw Batgirl reaching for two more batarangs and made a mental note to thank her after the fight is over. She threw him a small grin which he returned before regarding the two stunned but still standing ninjas.

The one with the bo-staff acted first and moved forward to attack the pair. Batman however took the opportunity to grapple to the beams above the group and now dropped down onto the shoulders of the dual wielder. Showing his amazing athleticism and balance, he performed a back flip off of the woman to land in front of the one with the bo-staff who was directly in front of Batgirl and Aqualad. To say the man was surprised would be an understatement. He had the staff above his head ready to strike but now it just stayed in the air. Batman wasted no time in grabbing the man's wrist and violently twisting it, causing the staff to drop and the bones to break. A kick to his chest sent him flying backwards to land beside his still down companion.

Batgirl and Aqualad stared up at Batman with complete astonishment in their eyes. Batgirl who was relatively new to the vigilante gig with less than a year experience had never seen Batman perform such a feat. Aqualad, used to fighting with the team or his mentor had never seen anything so graceful yet deadly.

"Batgirl, tie these two up while I go check on Sinopilis. Aqualad make sure she doesn't try anything funny."

"So a secret room in an already secret basement of a warehouse in the middle of nowhere that isn't even under your name, but a person's whose family you have taken hostage. Must be some really big secret then."

As expected, Batman stayed quiet. He had been thinking along the exact same lines as his apprentice and was curious to know what was so important that needed to be hidden. They had tied up and left all the soldiers in the other room. Batman had ordered that the police be called after they had found their original target.

"It seems we'll have our answers beyond this door." This door was circular like the one that a vault would have. Batman walked up to the security pad and leaned down. He stared at it for a few seconds before punching in 4 of the numbers. To the surprise of Aqualad , the door opened. Batman walked in with Batgirl a step in while Aqualad paused in shock. He knew Batman had the title of World's Greatest Detective for a reason but still. He quickly ran up and grabbed Batgirl's arm. She stopped an raised an eyebrow (that he couldn't see because of her mask) at him.

"What is it?"

"I know he is Batman and all but _how_ did he do that?" Barbra smirked at him. Being his apprentice she has an inside peek at the behind the things that Batman does and it was fun to see her usually calm and stoic leader in shock.

"He used one of his many visions to see which numbers had the fingerprints on them. Once he saw the four he punched them in. Simple." She watched as Aqualad tried to work it out in his head.

"But that would mean that there are twenty four possible combinations. How did he get the exact one?"

It was now Barbra's turn to frown. She went to open her mouth to answer him but then closed it and shared a confused and slightly scared look with her leader. They both turned to regard Batman who was still walking. They were both thinking the same thing. 'Oh wow'.

What they didn't know was that Batman had heard their every word and was smirking to himself. 'Everyone gets lucky sometimes' he thought to himself, 'even the Dark Knight'.

Batman had stepped out of the long corridor that was behind the vault door and into a smaller room. Off to the left side was a control panel. There was nothing else significant in the room other than a large pod hanging from the ceiling. The lights were shut in the room with only a dim light coming from the hallway. Flicking on a flashlight he produced for his utility belt, Batman walked up to the pod and looked in.

"Aqualad, Batgirl!" The two teens heard the urgent tone in his voice and came jogging in.

"Batman did you find- what is that?" Batgirl had stopped mid step when she saw the pod in front of Batman. While she wore a look of confusion, Aqualad looked grim. He recognized the pod.

"Come see for yourself."

The two stepped forward and looked in...

to see the face of the man who had almost killed Robin and Nightwing.

"But... what?" That was Batgirl. She had stepped away from the pod and turned to Batman.

"I think Khaldur can answer that question better than I. You recognize it don't you?" 

Khaldur was still looking at the pod when he answered. "Yes. It was the night when Nightwing, who was Robin, Kid Flash and I found Superboy under Cadmus. He was being held in a pod exactly like this with three Genomorphs, G-gnomes I believe these three specific ones were who fed him telepathic information"

Batgirl stared wide-eyed at the pod now. During her tenure as Batgirl, she had never see anything so bizarre.

"So what are we going to do with him?"

"We can't let him out, he'll be unstable and we can't leave him here." Batman was silent for a moment as he was thinking. An idea struck him.

"Nightwing, I need you to contact Superboy and have him be at the Batcave by the time I get there. Also ask Superman to meet me here now."

"Batman? What are we doing?" "Superman is going to fly this thing out of here to the Batcave." 

Aqualad shared a confused look with Batgirl. "To what end?" she asked.

Batman didn't answer. He did however have a noticeable scowl on his face, one that was noticed by both Aqualad and Batgirl. They would soon understand why he wore it.


End file.
